At the time of filing the present patent application many new systems have been publicly introduced for delivery of multimedia content, which is broadly defined in the disclosure as any stored data and information which may be transmitted to end users for their use. Examples are music, video clippings, TV programs of all sorts, and WEB pages from WEB servers interconnected through the world-wide public network well-known as the Internet.
The term multimedia came into use as a result of a concept and effort to combine and integrate systems to deliver such information for a broad range of uses, many of which have a commercial aspect. Many such systems have been introduced at the time of this filing, and many more are in the offing. A good example is what is broadly known as a set-top box, which is an electronic unit adapted to be connected to a television set, and to receive and cause to be played (both audio and video presented), typically through the television apparatus. In many instances set-top boxes have a CPU and are connectable to personal computers, and may also interface to computer peripheral equipment such as keyboards and printers, and may respond as well to input devices like infra-red remote controllers.
In any case, set-top boxes, cable TV delivery (both analog and digital), satellite TV (both analog and digital), analogue and digital audio, and information accessed as WEB pages from Internet-connected servers via satellite, land, and wireless connections are all well-known in the art, and the general standards by which all of this apparatus works is similarly well-known. A detailed description of underlying hardware, software, and the like for such systems is not attempted in this disclosure, as such information is readily available to both the present inventor and to any worker with skill.
Although much has been done to bring WEB-based information and television programming together, much innovative work remains to be done. The inventor takes notice for example, that even with the advent of computerized set top boxes, a user must operate in one realm or another. For example, the user can switch between TV channels to watch TV, or he/she may operate the set top box as a WEB browser, with the television CRT acting as the display monitor. Alternatively (In some systems known to the inventor) the user may operate the TV and set top box as a personal computer, running various computer applications.
Only relatively recently have set top box systems been adapted for receiving WEB-based information (meaning information stored as web pages on servers interconnected on the Internet) delivered by satellite, but now this phenomenon is relatively common. Intel.TM. Corporation has recently announced a joint venture with satellite companies to deliver multimedia content by satellite. Still such systems are not truly integrated, and a user must switch between one mode of operation and another.
What is clearly needed is a system for delivery of multimedia content wherein the boundaries between TV programming and such as WEB browsing are removed, and a user may seamlessly operate in any realm with a single user interface and interactive tools, perceiving to be only in one virtual realm.